Vampire Academy Series, Books 1-3

by Richelle Mead

Description:

Book #1: VAMPIRE ACADEMY

ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES...

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with an unbreakable bond to the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest and most dangerous vampires - the ones who never die.

The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making her one of them.

After two years of illicit freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. Rose will continue her Dhampir education. Lissa will go back to being Queen of the elite Moroi social scene. And both girls will resume breaking Academy hearts.

Fear made Lissa and Rose run away from St. Vladimir's - inside the Academy's iron gates, their world is even more fraught with danger. Here, the cutthroat ranks of the Moroi perform unspeakable rituals, and their secretive nature and love of the night creates and enigmatic world full of social complexities. Rose and Lissa must navigate through this dangerous world, confront the temptation of forbidden romance, and never onece let thier guard down, lest the Strigoi make Lissa one of them forever...

Book #2: FROSTBITE

WHEN LOVE AND JEALOUSY COLLIDE ON THE SLOPES, WINTER BREAK TURNS DEADLY...

Rose's love life is all messed up. The man she likes has his eyes on someone else, her friend has a crush on her, and she keeps getting stuck in Lissa's head while she is making out with her boyfirend.

Then when a Massive Strigoi attack puts St. Vladimir's on high alert, the school is crawling with guardians. And one just happens to be Rose's formidable, long- absent mother, Janine Hathaway.

But this only provides the illusion of safty. When some students run away to strike back at the Strigoi, Rose must rescue them. Only this time, Rose - and her heart - are in more danger than she ever could have imagined...

Book #3: SHADOW KISS

WHAT IF FOLLOWING HER HEART MEANS ROSE COULD LOSE HER BEST FRIEND FOREVER? THIS TIME, ROSE WILL HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM.

Rose knows it is forbidden to love another guardian, and that her best friend Lissa - the last Dragomir princess - must always come first. Unfortunately, when it comes to Dimitire Belikov, some rulse are meant to be broken...

But since her first Strigoi kills, Ros hasn't been feeling right. Something dark has begun to grow in her mind, and ghostly shadows warn of a terrible evil drawing near. Tensions in the Moroi world are higher than ever.

Lying to Lissa about Dimitri is one thing, but suddely there's way more than friendship at stake. In a Heartstopping battle to rival her worst nightmares, Rose will have to choose between life, love and the two people who matter most...but will her choice mean that only one can survive?

Review:

There were a alot of good parts in these books. Richelle Mead has done a wonderful job in writing them. In this amazing series of novels you will find: love, friendship, inner trials, excitement, action and adventure. It is a fast paced read, one thrill after another. But I have to admit that some parts in the middle are a little slow, but it won't last long if Rose Hathaway has anything to say about it.

The character development and story line are so well done that I think I am a student at St. Vladimir's Academy myself. The book is told from Rose's point of view. And while you might be able to predict the smaller happenings of the plot, it's not that easy with the bigger picture. I can tell you one thing, I did not expect half those things to happen.

Rose is a seriously independent, handle it on her own, never let a fight go unchallenged kind of girl. While Lissa on the other hand, is a kind of moody, dependent and slightly annoying. (The annoying part is my own personal opinion though...no offence.)

Book-alikes: ~I would recomend these books for anyone who is a fan of Vampires, the Twilight series, the House Of Night series, etc.~

Profanity: Mild

Drugs & Alcohol: Mild

Sexuality: Mild, it is suggested but never in detail

Violence: Mild

Rating: **** 4 out of 5 stars.

Reviewed by :

Lisa

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Summary:

So basically, the book is about fighting the evil side with in all of us. Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared--the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in his own blood--but she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night held.The memories her family has tried to bury resurface when Daniel returns, three years later, and enrolls in Grace and Jude's high school. Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes.The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boy's dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul. (Summary by goodreads.com)

Review:
The Dark Divine was surprisingly quite a good book! At first I was a little apprehensive to read it, because it sounded like just another spin off of Twilight, but I found the character development to be much better. I actually liked the realistic way Bree made her characters feel, though I feel that her male characters were stronger then the female ones.

I did find the main heroine of the story lacking in some personality. It's not that Grace was not likeable, I just think that you expected her to grow more as the book progressed. Her growth was stunted, I think, because the author was trying so hard to capture Daniel and his struggle that she forget to continue to develop Grace in the same ways. I wish she had gone a little bit deeper into Jude's side of the story as well, so you could really see what was going on between both of these very compelling characters. I feel Jude hung there for a long time not being used. Over all I liked the book a lot: it portrayed some very human emotions, it was not "CHEESY", it moved well, and had great humor. Bree makes you fight to love these characters, as much as the characters in the book are fighting to love each other. I loved the end. It showed that you do have to sacrifice, and I think that's one element love stories tend to leave out. A very nice read over all!!!

Profanity: Mild
Drugs & Alcohol: Medium, talked about, and a scene where a guy is high, but nothing really bad.
Sexuality: Mild, there is some kissing :)
Violence: Medium, but really nothing gory.
Rating: **** 4 out of 5 stars.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike: Review

Wings

By: Aprilynne Pike

Description: Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

Review: I was so close to loving this book. There were just a few things that have prevented me from really getting into it like I wanted to.

My favorite character in this book was David, easily. He seems to genuinely be interested in Laurel's well being. When her dad gets sick, he volunteers time at their bookstore and other things that show that he really cares.

The Faerie lore was another aspect I really enjoyed.  The author did a great job of taking an idea and really running with it. Also, the villains were pretty good. I only wish they had been featured more. I'd really like to know more about their history and hope that they play a bigger role in the sequel.

This book is a good middle-reader fantasy. It was a little slow as far as actual action goes, and some of the events in the book were a little trite. But, I would very highly recommend this book for a pre-teen girl that you don't want to give a book about abusive vampire relationships. There isn't any of that in this book. And, I liked it enough to be pretty excited about the sequel coming out next year.

Rating:

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Book A-Like:

Twilight, If you like paranormal romance you'll like this book.

Profanity: None

Drugs and Alcohol: None. She doesn't even eat meat.

Sexuality: None

Violence: Mild. There is one fight scene.